


One Second

by AXEe



Series: Family Matters [18]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Every partent's worst nightmare, Everything turns out all right in the end, F/F, trigger warning for missing child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-13 13:19:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10514559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AXEe/pseuds/AXEe
Summary: It only takes one second for a disaster to strike.  Trigger warning for missing child





	

******

“Don’t wander off” Astra said as five year-old CJ gleefully scampered up the ladder to slide at the small playground they were at. Sighing, Astra sank down onto the bench nearby

“Cute kid,” Astra blinked, looking over at the man next to her “yours?” he asked, she nodded, he smiled and pointed to a little boy spinning in circles “my son,” he explained, wincing as the boy stopped spinning and fell over “oh boy” he sighed as he got up and hurried over, he wasn’t hurrying all that fast so Astra assumed this was a frequent occurrence. She was glad CJ didn’t do weird things like that. Smirking she turned back to look towards the slide and froze

CJ wasn’t there

Ms. Penguin was still there, but CJ wasn’t

 _’Don’t panic’_ she told herself as she looked around “CJ?” she called out as she stood up, maybe she’d just moved to another part of the playground “CJ?” she called again, louder this time “no, no, no, CJ!!” she hurried forward, blindly pushing through the crowd of parents and children “CJ?! Where are you?!” she frantically looked around, blind panic was starting to set in, this couldn’t be happening, it _couldn’t_ be, she’d only looked away for a second, just a second “CJ!!” it had only been a second “CONNOR?!!?”

“Hey, what is it?” she looked over as the same father she was just speaking to came “you OK?” he asked

“My daughter,” she looked around “CJ!!”

“Hey, we’ll find her” the man assured her

“Mama!” Astra froze

“CJ?!” she turned and shot towards CJ’s voice, not caring if anyone saw her using her superspeed by this point. She gasped in relief as she skidded to a stop “CJ! What are you _doing_ up there?!” she demanded as she was met with the sight of her daughter up a tree

CJ pouted, clearly not seeing that she had done anything wrong

“I wanted to see the baby birds,” she pointed up at a branch, where a mother bird had built a nest, three fuzzy chicks now sat peeping inside “see?” CJ continued “I saw the mama bird hunting a worm and followed her” she explained, it sounded perfectly logical to a child’s mind

“Come down from there!” Astra urged, gasping as CJ easily slid down the trunk and into her arms “don’t you **_EVER_** do that again!” she ordered as she held CJ close “do you understand?”

“I’m sorry”

“Do you understand?!” CJ whimpered, tears watering in her eyes, knowing that she had done something bad but not what, as Astra held her tight “I’ve lost too much, I can’t lose you too” Astra whispered into her hair…

******

“Can I have an ice cream?” CJ asked as Astra shut the door to the apartment. Smiling, Astra crouched down in front of her

“Yes,” she cupped CJ’s face “you can have an ice cream”

“Oh boy!” CJ skipped off towards the fridge

“Only one!” Astra called after her

“Hey,” Alex frowned as she came over to her wife “you OK? I thought you never wanted her to---Astra? What’s wrong?”

“I…lost her today, Alex” Astra whispered

“What? What happened?!” Alex hissed

“We…were at the park, and I looked away for just a second, _just a second!_ And when I looked back…she was gone”

“Oh my god,” Alex groaned “was she OK? What happened? Where’d she go?”

“She was up a tree,” Astra explained “she said she saw a bird carrying a worm and wanted to see the chicks so she followed it”

“Damn it!” Alex sighed, Astra nodded

“I…didn’t think,” she hissed as she started to pace “I just looked away for a second! One second!”

“Hey, hey,” Alex gripped her arm “she’s OK? Do you hear me? She’s OK, look at her,” she nodded to where CJ was happily licking away at an ice cream cone (and getting most of it on her shirt) “she’s fine” Alex whispered

“Alex, you weren’t there,” Astra began “you didn’t…,” she shook her head “I’ve lost so much in my life, my sister, my whole world, I can’t, I _can’t_ lose either of you”

“You won’t,” Alex insisted “I’ll talk to her, explain what she did wrong”

******

Hours later, and the rest of the family had been informed, CJ had been given a firm lecture by every member of the family one by one, Winn and Lucy included, and then, later that night, had been put to bed

“Astra,” Alex sighed as she tugged on her wife’s arm “you can’t keep standing watch in her bedroom door,” she sighed as she wrapped Astra up in a hug from behind “you won’t lose us, Astra” she vowed

“I know,” Astra whispered as she watched their daughter sleep “I’ll make sure of it”

“Good,” Alex mumbled into her shoulder “you can do that in _our room_ , now come on”

And finally, after all the tension and fear of the day, Astra finally laughed

**END**

**Author's Note:**

> Whew! Well, that was intense! :-), not really sure where this came from, still hope everybody enjoyed it despite the scary parts, let me know what you thought


End file.
